Terms of Reference and Membership

Our charge is "to investigate the feasibility of developing a (web-based) repository of references relating to the application of the Ocean Fertilization Assessment Framework that would be accessible to LC-LP Parties, in cooperation with the CBD, UNESCO-IOC and other forums" (LC 33/15, paragraphs 4.25 to 4.28).

Our terms of reference were established by a Working Group at the 35th meeting of the Scientific Groups of the London Convention and London Protocol in 2012. The relevant text from paragraphs 6.1 to 6.9 of LC/SG 35/WP.3 are reproduced below:

6 The Working Group made the following recommendations with respect to the development of a repository of references relating to the application of the OFAF:

.1 reports and other publications (i.e. 'Grey' Literature') should be included as well as peer-reviewed literature;

.2 in addition to scientific references, other references (such as legal or policy papers) that would contribute to a comprehensive bibliography of references of relevance to the LC/LP work on ocean fertilization in particular the application of the Assessment Framework, should be included;

.3 references in languages other than English should also be included, particularly where such papers are considered to be important ones. These should be submitted by delegations with access to this literature and should where possible, include an abstract in English;

.4 the initial set of references should be based on:

.1 the CBD Technical Series Report No. 45 'Scientific Synthesis of the Impacts of Ocean Fertilization on Marine Biodiversity';

.2 the UNESCO-IOC SOLAS report 'Ocean fertilization: A Scientific Synthesis for Policymakers'; 

.3 the relevant ocean fertilization references in the CBD report 'Impacts of Climate-Related Geo-engineering on Biological Diversity' submitted to CBD SBSTTA 16 as paper UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/28; and

.4 the CBD report 'Regulatory Framework for Climate-related Geo-engineering relevant to the Convention on Biological Diversity' submitted to CBD SBSTTA 16 as paper UNEP/CBD/SBSTTA/16/INF/29;

.5 that the United States offer to take forward the development of a database to provide this repository be accepted with gratitude;

.6 an intersessional correspondence group is established to assist the United States with the development of the database. The delegations present at the Working Group would form the initial correspondence group.

.7 a set of codes should be developed for the references to:

.1 identify the parts of the OFAF that the paper provides relevant information for;

.2 identify legal papers;

.3 potential identify non-peer reviewed papers; and

.4 identify other aspects as agreed by the intersessional correspondence group during the development of the database.

.8 members of the intersessional correspondence group and other delegations should provide appropriate references to the United States that should, whenever possible, be appropriately coded, once the codes have been established; and

.9 the London Convention and Protocol Secretariat should explore the possibility of hosting the database of references on the London Protocol web site with IMO.

A working group met during the 36th meeting of the Scientific Groups of the London Convention and London Protocol in 2013. The group included representatives from Argentina, Australia, Canada, China, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom, the United States and IUCN. The group reviewed the current state of the Ocean Fertilization Document Repository; considered how to reach out to other organizations such as UNESCO-IOC; considered the development and inclusion of metadata; developed a path forward to finalize work on the Ocean Fertilization Document Repository; and presented a report to plenary. The Scientific Groups agreed to re-establish the Correspondence Group, under the lead of Dr. Marian Westley (United States), to continue work on the development of the Document Repository, under its terms of reference as set out in document LC/LP 35/WP.3 (paragraphs 6.1 to 6.9), with a view to having a draft Document Repository site ready to share with the governing bodies at the next joint session in 2013 for their consideratioin.

As of June 2013, members of the Correspondence Group include representatives from: